Ten Steps To Freedom, Two Steps To Home (Or Is It Hell?)
by MerciaLachesis
Summary: It's been six hours since her escape... Luna knows how to survive, she's ten years old after all... but she wants help, she doesn't need it though... Luna Lovegood must be found, according to the plan she has to... Professor Dumbledore is on official ministry business, strictly speaking this is a lie. Part SEVEN of the Under the Moon series. 12 Part DRABBLE fic


**A/N- Here's my new addition to the series! hope you all enjoy it:)**

* * *

 **Wander**

It's currently 0500 hours. So six hours since Luna has left for her "better life". Or at least escaped with it. Barely.

So far, nobody has noticed the ten year old girl weaving through the streets of a busy city in the early hours of the morning, wearing only a thin t-shirt and shorts. She supposes that's a good thing.

But it is cold and Luna could do with some sympathy right about now. She also has nowhere to go and no one to trust so it wouldn't really make a difference. No doubt by now HYDRA will have sent out the signal that they've lost yet _another_ Widow.

It is nice though, she hasn't felt this endless since before with Mr Loki (the pain that comes with those thoughts are starting to ease slightly). The cold slabs of dusty pavement feels real and calm beneath her toes despite the numbing it causes. Luna wishes she has her dancing shoes, but she doesn't and she has to be more careful than that. So instead she flits about, avoiding cameras, being invisible without trying. She explores the real world. This real world. Going around bends and bumping into strangers.

It's ordinary just like she expects it to be... But there's nothing boring about it.

 **Steal**

At nine o' clock, just as everyone is hurrying to their mundane office jobs, Luna takes to opportunity to come out of hiding and into the busy streets.

Pickpocketing has always been an easy affair. All the girls learnt when they were five. And it's easier now that she's the perfect height for it. Looking frantic, Luna starts to push through the general path of some of the richer looking civilians, going the opposite direction and sticking her hand into pockets and bags, smiling just right so she looks innocent.

By ten o' clock she's gone away with at least $300, some change, a golden watch and a whole wallet. She's nothing if not thorough. Then she grabs a paper bag off from a nearby stand and plops her winning inside.

Luna doesn't like stealing. It makes her feel like a nargle. But in this case, she decides she has to. And it's nice doing something for herself. Even if it's stealing.

 **Customer**

Cassie doesn't really pay any attention to the little girl at first, after all, it's not exactly strange. But she does watch out for her - kids shouldn't be out alone these days, especially when it's so busy.

The girl hazes around the shop, picking up seemingly random items; bottles of water, a lighter, sandwiches, socks and shoes, a jacket and one of those Swiss army knives which instantly makes Cassie wary. Cassie doesn't take her eyes off her and when she comes over to check out the little girl asks, "Are you okay? You've been staring at me this whole time." Instead of the other way round.

Cassie merely blinks and stutters, "Yes... I'm fine, thank you dear."

"Oh, your welcome." She utters in a soft voice. "Is there anywhere I can get changed?" She says, gesturing at the clothes and handing over the bill.

Cassie nods behind her at the storage cupboard and watches mutely as she floats in. "You should close your mouth, I've heard its the easiest way for Umbungular Slashkilters to lay eggs in your body. There aren't many here I think, but just in case." She calls as she disappears inside.

Closing her mouth, Cassie relays the what just happened in her head. Well it isn't the strangest thing but it certainly wasn't ordinary. She shakes her head. Nevermind, it was just a customer.

 **Refuge**

Luna is sat down in a quaint little café sipping tea. There's a television in the room and she watching the Avengers. She likes to study their movements, especially the ones without powers. Maybe she's biased since she's already met two of them but she doesn't have the same powers as Thor or Dr Banner anyway.

She sighs, she really needs to meet them soon. A cough from above breaks her out of her musings. It's the waitress that was serving her before, Rachel.

"Um, is you mother here? What are you doing by yourself? Do you need help?" She asks, twirling a strand of hair nervously.

Luna decides to ignore the questions and simply asks "Do you know how to get to New York?"

Rachel the waitress blinks and says, "Why? Do you need help?"

Luna giggled a shakes her head. She can't really blame her cluelessness on wrackspurts now can she? "I need to see the Avengers."

Looking stumped, Rachel helps herself to the seat opposite Luna's and says again, " Is your mother here?"

"Oh, I'm not sure what happened to her." Luna replies without missing a beat. "I think she might be dead... And I don't know anything about my father either."

"Um okay."

And then Luna isn't quite sure what possesses Rachel to say this bit she's quite thankful she does. "Do you have anywhere to stay? You can come to my apartment if you want."

Luna smiles warmly like they taught her to at the Academy and Miss Rachel seems utterly charmed by this. "You probably shouldn't offer your home to someone if you don't even know their name. It's an easy way to attract nargles, Miss Rachel. I'm Lou."

"Stay here. My shift ends in an hour." She says, which is quick. Luna thought that civilians would have more trouble accepting ten year olds into they're homes. She does seem a bit eccentric for a normal person, though.

Luna giggles to herself. Rachel Greengrass is a good person.

 **Temporary**

Miss Greengrass's apartment is quite small and cluttered and she is strange. Unsurprisingly. For all her kindness on taking a child in, Luna isn't quite sure to trust her sanity(not that she is one to speak) because she's constantly talking about "Merlin's beard" or Salazar's pants" and doesn't seem fazed when she talks about Nargles and Heliopaths.

 _"Don't be silly, those are just fairy tales."_

Rachel is quite antisocial, she soon discovers. Only going out to buy groceries occasionally and subsequently allowing Luna to keep a training schedule.

Luna sleeps on the couch which is really a huge difference from the beds at Red Room(it feels like she'll keep sinking in till the ground) and sleeps with the radio buzzing softly.

Most of the meals they share consist of soup, bread and pumpkin juice, which has admittedly grown on her.

Luna only stays for a week and a half. She almost forgets where she needs to be.

So she thanks Rachel Greengrass and lets her by the train ticket to New York and tells her to watch out for Nargles and Wrackspurts.

She's on her way.

 **Find**

Albus Dumbledore is usually a well organized man but it's almost a year till Luna Lovegood has to go to Hogwarts and according to the register, she's alive. And yet, still he cannot find her. He rubs his temple.

There's too much going on. What, with Harry Potter arriving at Hogwarts, Voldemort inevitably going after the Philosopher's stone, he isn't sure if going after one witch is worth any.

Not to mention all those strange going-ons in the muggle world. It seems like they've almost managed to create magic, those muggles... Even though everyone in the wizarding world knows that people like Thor are extra-terrestrials and the Hulk is another muggle 'science experiment' gone wrong. Astounding what they've achieved, those muggles.

Anyhow, he has work to do. Unlocking the second drawer the cabinet, Albus retrieves a red vial with the word 'Lovegood' in a neat cursive. There's a knock at the door and Severus walks in just in time, a jar of golden liquid in hand. Quickly, he shuts the door behind him.

"I have the blood bond potions you requested, Headmaster."

A smile graces his lips and Albus is careful to show that he's in control. "Ahh yes... Bring it here. I trust the potion will work with preserved blood?"

"Of course."

Handing him the jar carefully, Severus turns to take his leave.

After a moment, Albus then unscrews the jar, uncorks the vial and watches as the blood dribbles inside. There isn't a lot of it. They only found Xeno weeks after his supposed death, most of the blood had dried up by then.

Sure enough, the golden liquid turns a deep crimson and Albus sticks his hand in, bracing himself as the Lovegood heir ghosts into view of his mind for five seconds. The image quickly blinks out.

But that's more than enough. Everything is going to plan. Luna Lovegood is coming home. According to the plan... She has to.

This step is vital.

 **Radio**

The train to New York is supposed to take around five hours if not longer, so Luna busies herself with drawing all of her creatures and staring at easily freaked out passengers because it amuses her.

On the third our, there's an announcement to exit the train and they've stopped in the middle of the tracks, halfway between two stations and all the lights have turned off. Luna's thoughts instantly go to HYDRA and that _she's_ put all these people in danger!

She needn't be so vain.

Slipping out carefully and silently is easy for her, especially in the dark. She's always liked the dark... It feels like home. Luna even closes her eyes.

A few metres away, somebody switches on a radio and Luna closes her eyes and _listens_.

"-Power failure around the globe, most notably connected to the energy sector of Stark Industries."

Luna feels her eyes narrow.

"Well that's all good and well but I've just got a visual that the Avengers are suiting up! Could this be another disaster for the Avengers?! Good luck, heroes! Now, to all of you listening, we urge you to stay inside your homes. The-"

The radio shuts off and a collective sigh is heard. For some reason it seems like the American Citizens are all too used to this.

 **Sight**

Wanda isn't sure what she expects when she looks into the mind of the Black Widow, Natalia Romonova.

But it certainly isn't her moon killing a man. It isn't her moon bound to a chair. It isn't her moon crying like she's already dead.

Black Widow doesn't so much as flinch, so Wanda pulls out her most vicious nightmare and stuffs it into her mind. And she's looking this woman who made her moon hurt. She's screaming too now. Wanda has so many questions, but first... She looks at the woman yelling and kicking and sobbing.

She hurt Luna, right?

She looks at her nightmare and is disgusted. So _selfish_. Her darkest moment is that she can no longer have a child?! _Good_. She doesn't deserve one. She hurt Luna, a child, and made her cry when she of all people should understand Luna's pain.

Clutching her mind, Wanda takes one more glance and keeps going. She still has a mission, she can deal with the Black Widow later.

Pietro catches her eye and she points to Romanova and says "Nargles." He frowns and realises and nods. He's gone in a flash.

Wanda hates the Avengers more than ever now.

 **Two**

Everyone has been stuck there at the side of the tracks for two nights. Luna almost begins to lose hope in her Avengers. Isn't Natalia Romanova the best?

Everyone stays huddled up together outside since it's to dangerous to be inside the train when there are killer robots and A.I.s on the loose. So Luna huddles up with an American family who tell her that this is the first time they've been on "these sorts" of trains before, and regards her with a look of interest and even take notes when she talks about the danger and benefits of staying with large groups in correlation to the effectiveness of Wrackspurts.

"Hey," she says in an American Accent, "My name's Lou."

"Rolf. These are my grand-parents."

They're called the Scamanders. There are three of them. Mrs and Mr Scamander and Rolf, who's just a year or two older than herself.

She decides she rather likes them and their pumpkin pasties and makes up a story for herself. Which is nice and sad, but also good preparation in case she is ever questioned.

It's nice that they listen.

When the whole ordeal is over and Luna is to go back to her carriage, they wave goodbye and she has three pumpkin pasties, a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavoured Bean, a Honeydukes chocolate bar and a drawing of a Hungarian Horntail(which she gives then a drawing of an Aquavarious Maggot in return). They're about two hours away from the city now, providing there aren't any delays.

 **New York**

Luna smiles to herself as she hears the announcement. The carriage feels a lot more cramped and stuffy but its well worth it (and it certainly isn't the worst conditions she's ever stayed in). She's not sure what she's going to do but she does know she wants help. She doesn't need it (she can get by on her own well enough) but she wants it. Because she really isn't sure what's going to happen. She's been travelling for a month, pick-pocketing and sleeping in people's sheds or just outside. She frowns, it's easier than killing though. Or maybe just the thoughts after killing.

Luna doesn't like thinking about this.

So yeah. She smiles as the announcement is, "We are now approaching New York City . Please remember to collect your belongings."

It's a small victory.

The first thing Luna ought to do is plan. Anything HYDRA is really quite rare here because of all the Avengers, there's only one small base at the centre of the city. Even so she still has to be careful.

Once she gets off, Luna heads to a nearby restroom and shrugs off her backpack in one of the stalls. She tips out the contents and starts to arrange everything again. It's not like it does anything but she's anxious and she can't let that show, feeling prepared has, understandably, always calmed her down. She likes the unexpected to be honest, but she also likes to be prepared for it.

Just like at the last station, she still has a lighter, two bottles of water, an extra hand gun, a first aid kit, $120, half a pumpkin pasty and a substantial amount of the bad Bertie Bott's flavours(which could prove useful). She still has five knives and another gun on her person.

And she has a plan.

She is a top class student of the Academy, she's bright, she's efficient. She knows how to get the attention of the Avengers without attracting any unwanted attention. It's a well known fact, just about anywhere in the world, that Tony Stark is an Avenger.

So Luna heads to Starks Tower and... Didn't she say she could navigate anywhere with her eyes closed?

 **Who**

"Ma'am?" Pepper Potts looks up. She doesn't have any appointments this hour... Whatever the hell Tony's done now...

"Yes Susan?" Says Pepper, smiling through her teeth.

"Um... Sorry to disturb you but there's a little girl asking for you dowmstairs?" At Pepper's face, Susan falters a little, "well I could always send her away, but she just said she needed help and that Miss Romanov would know... A-and that... Um..." Susan sends her a "I'm sorry please don't fire me" look and Pepper genuinely feels bad for her and sighs.

"Okay. Send her up."

Susan nods and disappears. Pepper briefly considers the merits of not calling in Natasha but quickly decides against it. Natasha _hates_ being kept in the dark.

"Potts. What's the occasion? Want to rant about Stark?" Says Natasha monotonously.

"Uh... I'm not sure, hey d'you think you could drop by the Tower like right now? There's a little girl who needs your help, apparently."

"Christ Pepper, if I did that everytime a little girl wanted to meet me..." There's a pause at the other end, "What does she look like? Does she act a bit... Strange?"

"I don't know... Susan's sending her up now."

Natasha doesn't say anything for a good fifteen seconds before saying, "Call me back." And hangs up.

The knock at the door sounds just in time and a little girl, about ten years old with blonde hair, steps in confidently. Pepper waves Susan off.

"Hi, I'm Pepper Potts. What can I do for you?"she gives the girl a warm smile.

Giving her once over, the girl smiles sweetly back, "I'm Luna. Natalia knows me, so does Hawkeye. I wish to see them, if that's alright?"

"Well," Pepper hears herself say slowly, "I can't just call them whenever a little girl wants to see them… you understand?"

"But I _know_ them." insists Luna. "I'm from the same place as her. The… the same school… y'know!?"

Does she mean...? How? _Natalia. Natalia not Natasha. Right… of course._

"Красный академия номер?" Pepper says, pronunciating it slowly.

"Yes!"

Pepper sighs internally. A little bit of normalcy would be nice, they'd just gotten past the ordeal with _Ultron_ or whatever!

"Okay… I'll call her."

 **Squib**

Proffessor Dumbledore is going on official ministry business. Strictly speaking this is a lie.

But what, one might ask, could possibly be more important than his golden boy? Well, no-one. But Dumbledore is convinced that Harry Potter and his friends will be able to handle everything that comes their way. Besides, it's a learning experience.

So, after saying goodbye to his castle, he apparates away in a crack.

He's in North America now, outside a lovely little café. He can still feel her magical footprint lingering here.

Stepping inside, he ignores the odd looks from the muggle patrons and just smiles serenely.

"Proffessor Dumbledore." Greets Miss Greengrass, curtly. "I take it you're wanting a _butterbeer_?" She's scowling now, as if it's his fault she's a _squib._ But it's understandable, it's his fault she _knows_ she's one.

"Actually I'll take the lemon meringue pie and some tea please. One sugar."

"How very muggle of you, _sir_." And with that she turns on her heel, muttering profanities as she goes.

As he waits, Dumbledore observes the muggles. So this was the environment that the Lovegood child must have grown up in, really no different to most muggleborns or even Harry Potter. It's rather homely. Not that he cares so much but it's nice to know his future student grew up _safe, warm, protected_.

Soon enough, Miss Greengrass arrives with his order and plonks herself into the seat opposite. He silent casts a _muffliato_ and smiles warmly.

"So what are you doing here?" she demands.

"It's about a witch I think you know. Luna."

"Who now?"

"She's the Lovegood child that went missing, about six years ago?"

Dumbledore sees her eyes narrow and counts the seconds before…"And what? You think I kidnapped her?! You and all of you wizards are disgusting the lot of you!" She cries viciously, standing up to make her point. He grabs her arm and tugs her down.

"No, no... Nothing like that. I simply want to see if you know her. See a blood bond potion lead me here."

She narrows her eyes and hisses, "Don't fucking touch me."

"I don't need to." He interrupts. "Luna should be one of my students so I'm simply doing my duty. You will either offer me your memories which I will sift through in my own time - I have a vial here and a pensieve at Hogwarts, you know how that works - or I only have to look through your mind and you'll be obliviated from any memory regarding the child and my visit here. The decision is yours."

She clenches her fists. "Fine. Use the pensieve but you have to take me to your- Hogwarts."

He smiles again. "Of course."

"And you probably won't find anything."

He only hums, offering his arm and leads her outside. There's another crack and they're gone.

* * *

 **A/N- If you liked it please review!**

 ***Hint- the more comments i get the more motivation i get ^_^'**

 **But seriously! I hope you liked it! thank you for reading this far!**

 **-Mercia x**


End file.
